The title is a description of my old life...but these days I ramble on about widowhood, homeschooling, single parenting, adoption, special-needs parenting, & living a life I never planned for or expected - a life that God, thankfully, continues to strengthen & equip me for daily...

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Raindrops

Well, into all lives a little rain must fall...

A few raindrops from this past week:

* I've been having nasty, nasty headaches all week - migraines, actually. Tuesday it was so bad that I laid down. The head pain was absolutely agonizing and I just laid there, as the waves of pain crashed through my skull, over and over. I eventually fell asleep. When I woke up, the headache was gone, but I knew I'd had another mini-stroke. Fortunately, my recovery time from those things is fairly rapid anymore. But the headaches have not stopped yet. I wake up in the middle of the night and my head is just pounding. I don't know WHAT is going on. I'm trying to wean myself off pop, but I really don't think that's the culprit because I'm taking it slow. I went one day, pop-free, and then I had some. The next, I went two days, and so forth. And, by the way, my goal is not to eliminate pop consumption, but it's to make it more of a rare treat than something that I imbibe daily.

Oh, and then this afternoon a glass crockpot lid crashed down off a high shelf in the mudroom and hit my head. If I didn't already have a headache...

* I worked so hard on my last FW story. I researched and researched for that one and I just poured myself into it. I got a lot of positive comments on it, too, all week long. I was crushed when I didn't place this week. I did make it into the top 30 entries (out of 118) - barely. It frustrates me because I know I can write well - but what more do these judges want from me? It makes me want to just quit. Maybe I'm fooling myself with the writing. I can probably write well compared to the average non-writing, literate person, but I can't compare to real writers. But Paul asked me if I was going to quit and I quickly told him, "no." So, apparently, I'm trudging onward.

* The boys allergies really have me discouraged this week. Ben asked to come home from school Thursday morning because he was experiencing a severe attack. His nose didn't dry up until Friday night. I am at my wit's end. I don't know what to do for he and David. Their allergies have never been so severe in their lives. I suspect the contruction on the house may be a culprit. I'm reluctant to get David started on shots because Ben has been on them for 2 years and I am seeing absolutely no results. These boys are half drugged all the time. Their allergies flare up anywhere and anytime. David just came in from being out in the field and he was having a time of it, allergy-wise. So, it's obviously not limited to the house.

So, I have an appt. with a chiropractor on Monday for the boys. I know chiropractic care can help allergies sometimes, but not always. That, in and of itself, was a feat. The boys have two different kinds of insurance. Between the two, there are three different insurances at play. It took me, literally, all Thurs. afternoon to find a chiro that takes at least two of the insurances. As it is, we'll be paying some on David's care, out of pocket. I've also been doing some research on herbs and tinctures for allergies. I have a list of possibilities that I want to run by the chiro when we meet with him on Monday. Fortunately, I found a website this week (thanks, Melissa!) that sells herbs at a fraction of what we've been paying, buying them at Campbells, and even through the co-op.

And we've already determined that we're going to buy new mattresses and carpeting for the boys' room as soon as we get our tax return. And I'm going to look for something called an ionizer to help for now. I shot off a FB note to a friend of Paul's folks who is very knowledgeable about natural treatments and herbs today. He replied, but not in as great of detail as I had hoped. But I did get a little bit of help from him.

I'm frustrated. My boys need help and I don't know how to give it to them. All I can do is to keep trying different things, I guess.

I'll have a couple more things in my next post - not raindrops or blessings, particularly...just stuff.